As seven alien races struggle to co-exist in an uneasy alliance, the Inter-Stellar Union sends Union Guard agents on missions to preserve the crucial balance. These specialized operatives must do what regional security cannot, dealing with smugglers, pirates, terrorists, and even greater challenges in order to bring stability to a universe that needs it desperately. Without the Union Guard, the races will not be prepared to face a looming alien threat they can only hope to defeat together.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Problematic Characters (part 2)

Tension is necessary in a story,
because without it, readers will quickly lose interest. The plot
itself is often the main source of tension, and sometimes the plot
can be so involved that adding too much tension among characters can
unbalance the flow of a story. However, characters that are without
some form of conflict, internal and/or external can quickly become
mundane and uninteresting. It is definitely a difficult trick,
though, to figure out just how much conflict is necessary. One way is
the slow build, where the problems might not be especially overt at
first, but over time, the problematic character might develop into
something that the others have to finally contend with. Another angle
for balancing out a problematic character is to give the reader
insight into his motivations that the other characters don't yet
have. This helps the reader find more patience with a character that
they otherwise might have quickly decided to dislike. Slow discovery
of a problematic character's motivations through other characters in
the story also helps readers to be patient with a character that
seems unlikeable from the start. Ultimately, though, the writer must
tread a precarious line between making a problematic character
intriguing or risk causing that character to be so disliked that he
or she ruins the story entirely.